Oil inches down as investors focus on Hormuz flows after peace talks
- Markets weigh progress in US-Iran peace negotiations.
- Investors await clarity on Strait of Hormuz oil flows.
- US sanctions waiver for Iran triggered Monday sell-off.
Oil prices inched down on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session, as investors looked for clearer signs of progress in restoring crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz following US-Iran peace talks.
Brent crude futures fell 20 cents, or 0.3%, to $77.70 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate declined to $73.74 a barrel, down 12 cents, or 0.2%, as of 0323 GMT.
Prices fell more than 3% on Monday after the United States granted Iran a 60-day sanctions waiver following initial peace talks, and as officials reported a lull in hostilities in Lebanon under the broader agreement.
The developments followed a weekend that had appeared to put the week-old accord in jeopardy, including threats from US President Donald Trump to restart the war if Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran declared the strategic waterway closed.
“There remains a prevailing dose of market scepticism, rooted in deep-seated mistrust between Washington and Tehran, suggesting that any return to pre-war oil prices is likely to be delayed rather than immediate,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday that Iran will agree to have weapons inspections to ensure “nuclear honesty.”
“If Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement, or if they’re not behaving, I will do what I have to do,” Trump later told reporters.
“The market had priced in optimism around the roadmap and potential Strait of Hormuz reopening, but traders are now taking a more measured approach as they await concrete evidence that the deal will hold and traffic will normalise,” Waterer added.
Two crude tankers with just under 2 million barrels of oil sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, ship-tracking data showed, in a sign that traffic was picking up following weaker flows on Sunday due to concerns over passage through the waterway.
Separately, US crude stocks in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell to 331.2 million barrels last week, the lowest since June 1983, Department of Energy data showed on Monday, as supplies tightened in the wake of the US-Iran conflict.
